The present technology relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a program and, more specifically, to an image processing apparatus and method, and a program with which an object image is captured easily with less noise, balanced shading, and enhanced appearance without the use of a plurality of lighting devices.
Imaging studios with technical expertise use a multi lighting system for imaging of an object. With the multi lighting system, the object is imaged with desirable shadow created by light coming from various directions using a plurality of lighting devices. The use of the multi lighting system enhances the appearance of the object, and leads to an image well worth viewing.
The image of an object captured using the multi lighting system looks better than another of the same object captured by interior lighting or using a strobe light, for example. This is because the image is with unique shadow created by the multi lighting system, and is with the noise reduction effect produced by the object being illuminated with sufficient level of brightness, for example.
Recently, the auction over the Internet or the like is getting very popular. With the auction, buying and selling of goods is conducted based on images of the goods captured by users, and the goods are not available for other users to check themselves. Therefore, how good the images of the goods for sale look affects the winning price.
The demand for full-scale imaging using the multi lighting system is thus growing among the users not specifically interested in imaging.
The concern here is that imaging using the multi lighting system may not be fully advantageous for not-experienced users because expert skill is expected to adjust the shading balance.
In consideration thereof, a technology has been proposed to ease adjustment of the shading balance. For example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-281937 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1).
In Patent Document 1, the shading balance of an object is adjusted after imaging thereof using a simulation image to check. That is, the object is imaged by turning on a plurality of lighting devices one by one, and the resulting digital images are combined by weighted addition so that the simulation image is obtained. This somewhat reduces the complicated process of adjusting the shading balance at the time of imaging.
Also in Patent Document 1, even if the object is being illuminated both by the ambient light and the illumination light, the problem of the resulting combined image becoming brighter than the expected image is prevented by subtraction of the ambient-light image.
Also proposed is a technology of displaying captured images at any time during long-exposure imaging such as bulb imaging. For example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-117395 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2).
With the technology of Patent Document 2, however, overlay of a plurality of images captured by long-exposure imaging causes superposition of noise floor. Therefore, a larger number of images per unit time during long-exposure imaging increase the noise floor in the resulting combined image.
In consideration thereof, proposed is a technology of reducing the noise floor in the combined image by reducing the actual number of images to be captured without reducing the display frame rate by less-frequent reading of lines. For example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-80457 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 3).